St. Patrick’s Day reminds us how lucky we are

For the Lopinots, St. Patrick’s Day is just another excuse to down a few pints of beer. But this year, the almost national holiday has special meaning. It reminds us how lucky we are to be sitting here, on a rainy Monday morning, holding our new son.

Almost a year ago, we could not have imagined this day would ever come. We had been trying to have a baby for nearly two years, struggling with disappointment after disappointment, visiting numerous doctors and undergoing some humiliating tests.

But we had a nice, relaxing day at the in-law’s house last spring. Sarah and I took the dog on a hike around their 5-acre lot. As we walked, I kept seeing four-leaf clovers out of the corner of my eye, amid huge patches of clover. I had never had that much luck in finding those genetically enhanced little charms, but there I was, finding one after another. I must have plucked five or six from the ground that afternoon. Sarah never found a four-leafer, but she did find that day’s “pot o’ gold,” a five-leaf clover.

We took our loot into the house and pressed them in an old book. We talked to each other that day with newfound optimism in our quest to become parents. “Just maybe,” we thought, “our luck had turned.” And little did we know, we did find our stroke of luck, and we now are holding the luckiest charm of all, Oliver.

Below is a picture taken this morning in his St. Paddy’s Day getup. For any of you out there that need some luck in the coming year, we hope you find it.